Thursday, November 30, 2017

A Nearby Neutron Star Collision Could Cause Calamity on Earth - Scientific American

From:
A Nearby Neutron Star Collision Could Cause Calamity on Earth - Scientific American:


According to a 2016 study, supernovae occurring as close as 50 light-years from Earth could pose an imminent danger to Earth’s biosphere—humans included. The event would likely shower us in so much high-energy cosmic radiation that it could spark a planetary mass extinction. Researchers have tentatively linked past instances of spiking extinction rates and plummeting biodiversity to postulated astrophysical events, and in at least one case have even found definitive evidence for a nearby supernova as the culprit. Twenty million years ago, a star 325 light-years from Earth exploded, showering the planet in radioactive ironparticles that eventually settled in deep-sea sedimentson the ocean floor. That event, researchers speculate, may have triggered ice ages and altered the course of evolution and human history.
The exact details of past (and future) astrophysical cataclysms’ impact on Earth’s biosphere depend not only on their distance, but also their orientation. A supernova, for instance, can sometimes expel its energy in all directions—meaning it is not always a very targeted phenomenon. Merging black holes are expected to emit scarcely any radiation at all, making them surprisingly benign for any nearby biosphere. A kilonova, however, has different physics at play. Neutron stars are a few dozen kilometers in radius rather than a few million like a typical stars. When these dense objects merge, they tend to produce jets that blast out gamma rays from their poles.
“[W]hat it looks like to us, and the effect it has on us, would depend a lot on whether or not one of the jets was pointed directly at us,” Frank says. Based on its distance and orientation to Earth, a kilonova’s jets would walk the fine line between a spectacular light show and a catastrophic stripping away of the planet’s upper atmosphere. If a jet is pointed directly at us, drastic changes could be in store. And we probably wouldn’t see them coming. A kilonova begins with a burst of gamma rays—incredibly energetic photons that, by definition, move at light-speed, the fastest anything can travel through the universe. Because nothing else can move faster, those photons would strike first, and without warning.
“What [the gamma rays] would do, probably more than anything else, is dissolve the ozone layer,” says Andrew Fruchter, a staff astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Next, the sky would go blindingly white as the visible light from the kilonova encountered our planet. Trailing far behind the light would be slower-moving material ejected from the kilonova—radioactive particles of heavy elements that, sandblasting the Earth in sufficient numbers, could still pack a lethal punch.
That’s if the kilonova is close, though—within 50 light-years, give or take. At a safer distance, the gamma rays would still singe the ozone layer on the facing hemisphere, but the other side would be shielded by the planet’s bulk. “Most radiation happens very quickly, so half the Earth would be hidden,” Fruchter says. There would still be a momentarily blinding light. For a few weeks, a new star would burn bright in the sky before gradually fading back into obscurity.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

The Fungus That Turns Ants Into Zombies Is More Diabolical Than We Realized


From:
The Fungus That Turns Ants Into Zombies Is More Diabolical Than We Realized:

Carpenter ants of the Brazilian rain forest have it rough. When one of these insects gets infected by a certain fungus, it turns into a so-called “zombie ant” and is no longer in control of its actions. Manipulated by the parasite, an infected ant will leave the cozy confines of its arboreal home and head to the forest floor—an area more suitable for fungal growth. After parking itself on the underside of a leaf, the zombified ant anchors itself into place by chomping down onto the foliage. This marks the victim’s final act. From here, the fungus continues to grow and fester inside the ant’s body, eventually piercing through the ant’s head and releasing its fungal spores. This entire process, from start to finish, can take upwards of ten agonizing days

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Most Habitable Earth-Like Planets May Be Waterworlds


Most Habitable Earth-Like Planets May Be Waterworlds:

A new study published in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests that most habitable planets are wet. Like, extremely wet. Using computer models, astronomer Fergus Simpson from the Institute of Cosmos Science at the University of Barcelona found that habitable exoplanets, at least simulated ones, tend to be overrun by water, in most cases accounting for 90 percent or more of the total surface area.

Also interesting:

“Larger planets are thought to be more prone to flooding for two reasons,” Simpson told Gizmodo. “One is that if they have the same composition (percentage of water by mass) then their oceans are deeper. The second is that their higher surface gravity makes it harder to have such large surface perturbations [dynamic topological features].”


Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Move over DNA: Six new molecules can carry genes | New Scientist


The ability to copy information from one molecule to another is fundamental to all life. Organisms pass their genes to their descendants, often with small changes, and as a result life can evolve over the generations. Barring a few exceptions, all known organisms use DNA as the information carrier. 
A host of alternative nucleic acids have been made in labs over the years, but no one has made them work like DNA.
This problem has now been cracked. “This unique ability of DNA and RNA to encode information can be implemented in other backbones,” says Philipp Holliger of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Jupiter Has a Great 'Cold' Spot, Too

Jupiter Has a Great 'Cold' Spot, Too

Maybe some kind of adventure while refueling can be created from this story.

Friday, October 20, 2017

New Theory Suggests Life Can Emerge On Planets Without Water


All quotes from this story, and lots more information here:
New Theory Suggests Life Can Emerge On Planets Without Water

A new theory upends this assumption by suggesting that alien life could thrive on "supercritical carbon dioxide" instead.

Carbon dioxide becomes supercritical when its temperature exceeds 305 degrees Kelvin (about 88 F) and its pressure goes beyond 72.9 the standard atmosphere (atm) at sea level (the kind of pressure you'd find a half-mile beneath the ocean surface).

Fascinatingly, the atmospheric pressure of Venus is about 90 times greater than that of the Earth, with an average temperature of 467 degrees C. About 97% of its atmosphere is carbon dioxide. It's possible, therefore, that the atmosphere of Venus is a SCF. And indeed, the researchers speculate that organic remnants of life could still be preserved in such a fluid.

Also an article in Space: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/11/16/alien-life-could-thrive-on-supercritical-co2-instead-water/

And the original research: http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/4/3/331



Sunday, October 15, 2017

Massive Lava Waves Detected on Jupiter’s Moon Io


Thanks to a rare orbital alignment between Europa and Io, an international team of researchers has identified and tracked a pair of lava waves as they coursed around Loki Patera, which is larger than Lake Ontario, and with a surface area of 8,300 square miles (21,500 square km). The most likely explanation for this apparently periodic wave action is an overturning circulation pattern, in which cool surface crust slowly thickens and sinks, pulling nearby crust along with it in a wave that spreads across the surface. 


More Info:
Massive Lava Waves Detected on Jupiter’s Moon Io






Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Hottest-Ever Alien Planet Discovered

Hottest-Ever Alien Planet Discovered:

Astronomers have found the hottest known exoplanet, a world where temperatures exceed those on the surface of most stars.

The Jupiter-like planet, known as KELT-9b, zips around its hot host star once every 1.5 Earth days. Its orbit is so tight that the gas giant is tidally locked, always showing the same face to the star, just as the moon shows only one face to Earth.

Temperatures on KELT-9b's "day side" reach a blazing 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit (4,300 Celsius), the planet's discoverers said. That's hotter than the surface of the dwarf stars that dominate the Milky Way galaxy, and just 2,200 degrees F (1,200 degrees C) cooler than the surface of the sun. (However, temperatures in the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, can reach about 3 million degrees F, or 1.67 million degrees C.)

Why did Russia seize oil off a Venezuelan cargo ship in the Caribbean? - CSMonitor.com

Why did Russia seize oil off a Venezuelan cargo ship in the Caribbean? - CSMonitor.com:



Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, sent a tanker in October to the Caribbean with the expectation that its cargo of crude would fetch about $20 million – money the crisis-stricken nation desperately needs.

Instead, the owner of the tanker, the Russian state-owned shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, held the oil in hopes of collecting partial payment on $30 million that it says PDVSA owes for unpaid shipping fees.

Despite a longstanding alliance between Venezuela and Russia, Sovcomflot sued PDVSA in St. Maarten, a Dutch island on the northeast end of the Caribbean.

"The ship owners ... imposed garnishment on the aforementioned oil cargo," reads a March decision by the St. Maarten court.

Five months after crossing the Caribbean, the NS Columbus discharged its cargo of crude at a storage terminal on St. Eustatius, an island just south of St. Maarten, under a temporary decision by the court. Another tribunal in England will decide if Sovcomflot will ultimately take the oil.

1 week after black Saturday, 2 ships impounded, FIR filed | Chennai News - Times of India

1 week after black Saturday, 2 ships impounded, FIR filed | Chennai News - Times of India:

CHENNAI: As the extent of the oil spill caused by the collision of two ships off the Ennore Port in Chennai dawned on the authorities a week after the incident, multiple agencies stepped in to probe the accident. While the Chennai Port and police impounded both vessels, one of them registered abroad, the Madras high court said the government must take urgent action in this regard. The Chennai police have registered an FIR in connection with the collision and the oil spill, and issued a formal request to the port authorities not to allow the ships to sail away. The crew members too have been told not to leave without permission.


Newfound Alien Planet Is Best Place Yet to Search for Life

Newfound Alien Planet Is Best Place Yet to Search for Life:

The alien world known as LHS 1140b is rocky, like Earth. It is only 40 light-years away from our solar system (essentially, down-the-street in cosmic terms), and sits in the so-called habitable zone of its parent star, which means liquid water could potentially exist on the planet's surface. Several other planets also meet those criteria, but few of them are as prime for study as LHC 1140b according to the scientists who discovered it, because the type of star the planet orbits and the planet's orientation to Earth make it ripe for investigations into whether it’s the kind of place where life could thrive.

TRAPPIST-1: System with 7 Earth-Size Exoplanets

TRAPPIST-1: System with 7 Earth-Size Exoplanets:

Of the seven planets in TRAPPIST-1, three lie within the habitable zone, the region around a star where liquid water could form on a planet's surface, making them excellent contenders for the evolution of life. One world lies farther out, and is likely icy, while the three closest to the star are heated by its temperatures.

Why Are Martian Volcanoes So Different From Earth's?

Why Are Martian Volcanoes So Different From Earth's?:

Shield volcanoes on Earth are so big because they are fueled by mantle plumes for many millennia. The lava that erupts is basic, unevolved and extremely fluid, which means it spreads out over long distances. Give these shields enough time, and they grow to immense sizes.
Mars is no exception, but all its shield volcanoes are far more sizeable than our own. Why is that?
Well, on Earth, our tectonic plates gradually and continuously move around, but the mantle plumes underneath them stay still. So in 100,000 years or so, Hawaii’s Kilauea will be extinct, and the baby volcano growing off its shore, Loihi, will become the primary source of volcanism in the region.
Mars, as aforementioned, doesn’t have plate tectonics, which means that the underlying mantle plumes just kept on melting rock beneath the same spot for millions of years. The shield volcanoes there got so large that if they were any more massive, they’d break the Martian crust and sink back into the mantle.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

NASA | A Black Widow Pulsar Consumes its Mate - YouTube

NASA | A Black Widow Pulsar Consumes its Mate - YouTube:


Idea seeds:
* Go there to study the star (hiding behind the ionized gas).
* Go there to study the effects of radiation on the ionized gas.
* Go there to study the conversion from neutron star to black hole?

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Ancient skulls may belong to elusive humans called Denisovans | Science | AAAS

Ancient skulls may belong to elusive humans called Denisovans | Science | AAAS:

Late Pleistocene archaic human crania from Xuchang, China | Science

Late Pleistocene archaic human crania from Xuchang, China | Science:

Ancient Stone Tool Find Suggests Mystery Human Species : Discovery News

Ancient Stone Tool Find Suggests Mystery Human Species : Discovery News:
           
Ancient stone tools from an archaeological site on Sulawesi have pushed back the date of the earliest human occupation of the Indonesian island to at least 118,000 years ago.

The discovery, published today in Nature, overturns the view that humans first entered the island between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago as Homo sapiens dispersed out of Africa on the way to Australia.

Instead the finding suggests an ancient human species inhabited the island well before Homo sapiens arrived.

The Mystery of Red Deer Cave | Popular Archaeology - exploring the past

The Mystery of Red Deer Cave | Popular Archaeology - exploring the past:

It wasn’t altogether unique to find fossils of archaic humans in these parts. But what Curnoe and his colleagues found most noteworthy about these archaic human fossils was their unusual combination of primitive and modern features, coupled with the late date range—a time almost exclusively attributed to the presence of anatomically modern humans (AMH). All other species of human, at least in these regions of China, were thought to have gone extinct tens of thousands of years earlier. The finds harkened back to the sensational discovery made in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia, where scientists recovered and identified skeletal remains of another unusual species of human with archaic features—Homo floresiensis, popularly known as the “hobbit”. That human, determined to have occupied the site possibly as late as only 12,000 years ago, featured a very small (average 3 feet tall) body and small cranium or brain capacity, and a mosaic of other features, including a Homo erectus-like skull with a chinless mandible. The Red Deer Cave finds, on the other hand, featured an altogether different mosaic of anatomical features, decidedly different than Homo floresiensis and any other known species of human in the paleontological record. This species sported long, tall, broad frontal brain lobes much like modern humans, but they also featured more primitive characteristics such as a smaller brain capacity, thick skull bones, a prominent brow ridge, a jutting jaw that lacked a chin, a flat upper face with a broad nose, and large molars. Other features were unique to the Red Deer Cave specimen, shared by neither archaic or modern humans, such as a very curved forehead bone, very broad eye sockets and very flat, flaring cheeks.  “In short,” Curnoe told a LiveScience reporter, “they’re anatomically unique among all members of the human evolutionary tree.”

Study reveals the mysterious ancestors of modern Europeans - The Washington Post

Study reveals the mysterious ancestors of modern Europeans - The Washington Post




The Crater of Fire | Earth Blog

The Crater of Fire | Earth Blog:




Ecology and biogeography of megafauna and macrofauna at the first known deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge : Scientific Reports

Ecology and biogeography of megafauna and macrofauna at the first known deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge : Scientific Reports:

World's oldest axe found in the wilds of Australia - CSMonitor.com

World's oldest axe found in the wilds of Australia - CSMonitor.com:




Searchable Atlas Of Strange Places

I'm still exploring it, but so far, so good. If you can't
 get at least one "Oooh! That gives me an idea!" thought
 from it I'll be very surprised.

 http://atlasobscura.com/globe


On Line NPC Generators


Abulafia Random Generator Wiki And Web Pages



  • Abulafia http: random-generator.com



Traveller Adventures On Line


  • http://zho.berka.com/amber/ as a couple of adventures on it.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Generate An Adventure!

RESOURCES! · Issue #11 · dariusk/NaNoGenMo · GitHub:



https://github.com/dariusk/NaNoGenMo/issues/11

https://github.com/dariusk/corpora

https://github.com/dariusk/NaNoGenMo-2014

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/storygen.php








GM Preparation Templates


Lists of tables and web sites to help prep a gaming session:

Introduction and Overview:
http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/why-using-a-template-for-game-prep-is-awesome/print/

Sample Templates:
http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/prep-lite-manifesto-the-template/print/
http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/the-3-3-3-approach-to-quick-game-prep/

Friday, February 10, 2017

Ancient Native Americans Ate Pachyderms; Site Challenges Theory of Where New World Culture Began

Ancient Native Americans Ate Pachyderms; Site Challenges Theory of Where New World Culture Began

What the world's biggest diamonds hint about the Earth's mantle - CSMonitor.com

What the world's biggest diamonds hint about the Earth's mantle - CSMonitor.com

Diamonds are formed deep below the Earth’s crust in the mantle and are brought to the surface during volcanic eruptions, bringing with them tiny flecks of metal and minerals trapped inside. While these “inclusions” are cut out to sell the jewels, they offer scientists a unique look at the composition of the Earth’s interior.

"You really couldn't ask for a better vessel to store something in," Evan Smith, a diamond geologist at the GIA and an author of the study, told NPR. "Diamond is the ultimate Tupperware."

The GIA procured eight fingernail-sized chunks of left-over diamond scraps, which the research team cut open and ground up to look at using microscopes, lasers, magnets, and electron beams.

They found that the inclusions contained a mixture of iron, nickel, carbon, and sulfur, encased in a thin layer of fluid methane and hydrogen. The metallic inclusions indicated that the diamonds were formed under extreme pressure, in oxygen-deprived patches of liquid metal.

Furthermore, some samples also contained mineral inclusions that suggested the large diamonds form at much greater depths than smaller ones – as deep as 200 to 500 miles below the surface, Dr. Smith told NPR, while smaller diamonds form at roughly 90 to 120 miles down.

Do these ancient 'geoglyphs' hold a secret to preserving the Amazon? - CSMonitor.com

Do these ancient 'geoglyphs' hold a secret to preserving the Amazon? - CSMonitor.com

Some believe their existence implied vast land-clearing, but evidence from a recent study suggests otherwise. Rather, the geoglyph builders of millenniums past may have relied on small-scale burning to open relatively tight spaces within carefully cultivated forests, revealing sophisticated agroforestry practices that could have serious implications for current conservation efforts in both North and South America.

The new paper contributes to the growing body of research suggesting that the popular image of the pre-Columbian Americas as “pristine landscapes” is nothing more than a myth, as journalist Charles Mann argued in his book “1491.” From widespread burning of the Eastern forest in North America, to the extensive control over watersheds in the southwest, “basically a zillion archaeological studies show all kinds of human manipulation,” he tells The Christian Science Monitor in an email.

This new thinking suggests that efforts to preserve forest ecosystems in some apocryphal "natural" state through absolute control may do more harm than good, because it neglects the fact that they never were truly wild: forests evolved together with humans.


The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets | History | Smithsonian

The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets | History | Smithsonian

Huge Jupiter-Like Storm Rages On Cool 'Failed Star' : Discovery News

Huge Jupiter-Like Storm Rages On Cool 'Failed Star' : Discovery News:

L-dwarfs are a special subset of tiny stellar objects that possess both star-like and planet-like characteristics. Known colloquially as “failed stars,” brown dwarfs are too massive to be classified as planets, but they are too small to be clearly defined as stars. They form a bridge between planets and stars and can weigh-in at many times the mass of Jupiter (although their physical size is approximately that of Jupiter). They are celestial mongrels in a way; they have qualities of both stars and planets, but can be clearly defined as neither.
For example, although some of the more massive brown dwarfs (such as M- and L-dwarfs) can experience some low-level fusion in their cores (a star-like quality), it’s not enough to raise the object’s temperature beyond a couple of thousand degrees. Therefore, their atmospheres can become stratified (layered) and possess very planet-like phenomena such as clouds and, in this case, powerful storms.
NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer discovered W1906+40 in 2011 and astronomers realized that the object was within the field of view of NASA’s exoplanet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope. Usually, Kepler will look out for “transits” of exoplanets that orbit in front of their host stars — the slight dimming caused by the planet blocking star light causes a dip in brightness. But sometimes “starspots” can also be detected by Kepler — basically huge dark patches of magnetic activity in the uppermost stellar layers.
So, using Kepler, although the light generated by W1906+40 is faint, astronomers detected a huge dark patch rotate with the L-dwarf’s spin. Could it just be another star sporting a vast, dark cluster of star spots, like our sun does during periods of high magnetic activity?


How a huge landslide shaped Zion National Park

How a huge landslide shaped Zion National Park:

A Utah mountainside collapsed 4,800 years ago in a gargantuan landslide known as a "rock avalanche," creating the flat floor of what is now Zion National Park by damming the Virgin River to create a lake that existed for 700 years.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-05-huge-landslide-zion-national.html#jCp

The most Earth-like planet we know about is probably too radioactive for life - The Washington Post

The most Earth-like planet we know about is probably too radioactive for life - The Washington Post:

Kepler-438b is only 12 percent bigger than Earth in diameter, and scientists gave it a 70 percent chance of being rocky like our own world. Scientists were further tantalized by its distance from its host star, Kepler-438. Kepler-438b is a red dwarf chillier than our own sun, but the exoplanet in question is close enough to its star that it boasts a 70 percent chance of holding liquid water -- or having the right temperature to hold it, anyway.

But it turns out that the star is ejecting superflares 10 times as powerful as any solar flare ever recorded in our own system. The flares carry the energy of 100 billion megatons of TNT, and they happen regularly, at least once every few hundred days.

Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on Arctic's Earliest People

Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on Arctic's Earliest People

Inuit hunters in the Canadian Arctic have long told stories about a mysterious ancient people known as the Tunit, who once inhabited the far north. Tunit men, they recalled, possessed powerful magic and were strong enough to crush the neck of a walrus and singlehandedly haul the massive carcass home over the ice.  Yet the stories described the Tunit as a reticent people who kept to themselves, avoiding contact with their neighbors.

http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/08/inuit-myths-confirmed-nervous-giants-were-first-settlers-of-arctic-say-scientists/

http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/08/study-ancient-arctic-dwellers-were-not-really-into-sex/

http://www.digitaljournal.com/science/ancient-dna-shows-inuit-were-not-the-first-to-settle-the-arctic/article/400257

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/science/study-offers-clues-to-arctic-mystery-paleo-eskimos-abrupt-extinction.html




ALMA observations of HD 163296 reveal the presence of two planets.

ALMA observations of HD 163296 reveal the presence of two planets.:

HD 163296 is a very young star about 400 light-years from Earth. That’s pretty close as these kinds of objects go, making it a ripe target for astronomers to observe. And by young I do mean young; it’s only about 4 million years old—the Sun is literally a thousand times older than that!—so astronomers chomp at the bit to observe it. It’s a perfect opportunity to see how stars form.

And not just stars, but planets! We’ve known for a while that HD 163296 has a dusty disk surrounding it, and that this is exactly the sort of thing we expect planets to form in. And now new observations show pretty convincing evidence that this baby star has at least two baby planets orbiting it!

The image above reveals the disk around HD 163296 as observed by ALMA, the Atacama Large  Millimeter/submillimeter Array. ALMA sees “colors” of light well outside what our eyes can, wavelengths longer even than infrared. Warm dust around a star emits this kind of light, and the image above shows just that. You can easily see the dust is not just in a disk, but in a set of rings around the star.

Using physics and math, we can predict that forming planets will carve gaps just like that in the disk, their gravity drawing in the material around them as they grow. And there those gaps are!


Exclusive: Millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil stuck at sea in dirty tankers | Reuters

Exclusive: Millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil stuck at sea in dirty tankers | Reuters:

More than 4 million barrels of Venezuelan crude and fuels are sitting in tankers anchored in the Caribbean sea, unable to reach their final destination because state-run PDVSA cannot pay for hull cleaning, inspections, and other port services, according to internal documents and Reuters data.

About a dozen tankers are being held back because the hulls have been soiled by crude, stemming from several oil leaks in the last year at key ports of Bajo Grande and Jose, which has resulted in delayed operations for loading and discharging.

1,000 Years Ago, Corn Made Cahokia, An American Indian City Big. Then, Climate Change Destroyed It : The Salt : NPR

1,000 Years Ago, Corn Made Cahokia, An American Indian City Big. Then, Climate Change Destroyed It : The Salt : NPR: